10/27/10

Was Abbie Hoffman Jewish and the first to say, "Sacred Cows Make the Tastiest Hamburgers"?

Was Abbie Hoffman the first to say, "Sacred Cows Make the Tastiest Hamburgers"?

Probably not. Some quotations repositories attribute the saying to Mark Twain. Discussions of that attribution point out that the terms "hamburger" and "sacred cow" were not current during Twain's lifetime. Other sourcestrace the quip back to 1971.

The Times reports that at Hoffman's death in 1989 his rabbi said that "sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger" was one of Hoffman's favorite sayings. Yes, Abbie Hoffman was a Jew....

On a more traditional note, Rabbi Norman Mendell said in his eulogy that Mr. Hoffman's long history of protest, antic though much of it had been, was ''in the Jewish prophetic tradition, which is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.''

But the Rabbi also quoted one of Mr. Hoffman's favorite sayings: ''Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.''

Why do we bring this up, you ask?

Because we want to go on the record as having been the first to say that, "Kosher sacred cows make the tastiest beefburgers."

And in case you haven't noticed, we do gore or slaughter some kosher sacred cows on this blog. Mmm, gishmak. / repost from 7/27/09 /